Horse owners, veterinarians, and farriers generally agree that it is difficult to hold a horse's foot in an accessible position for treating the horse's hoof or shoeing the horse. Such people often need to pick up and inspect the leg of a horse to check for lameness, pick out the hoof, change screw stubs, give a minor trim, or shoe the horse. Such treatment generally requires some lateral (outward) movement of the horse's leg to expose the leg or hoof for inspection or work. However, horses generally do not appreciate having their leg moved in a lateral direction relative to their body. The leg of a horse bends backwards but not outwardly or laterally. A sideways pull on a horse's leg causes strain on the horse and the holder. Furthermore, nervous, stocky built, or short legged horses have a difficult time allowing their front legs to be pulled far enough laterally for most people to hold the leg in a mutually comfortable position. And, it is dangerous and uncomfortable for a person to hold a horse's leg between their leg or over their thigh.
Farrier's shoeing stands have long been known in the art and come in various different configurations. U.S. Pat. No. 89,379 to Blackburn describes a height-adjustable rest for shoeing horses. U.S. Pat. No. 286,389 to Coffey describes a horse shoeing stand that is mounded to a bench or base that rests on the ground. U.S. Pat. No. 457,345 to Fox describes a horseshoe stand. U.S. Pat. No. 533,604 describes a farrier's shoeing stand on which the farrier can sit. U.S. Pat. No. 1,198,467 to Maltby describes a shoeing jack with a hoof cradle that is spring-resilient, and also rests on the ground. U.S. Pat. No. 1,330,807 to Ilieff describes a horse shoeing jack that is height-adjustable.
More recent horse owner's and farrier's stands are described in various U.S. patents and Patent Application Publications to Keeler, including U.S. Pat. No. 6,640,905, U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,154, D491,699, D509,327, Pub. No. 2002/0108758, and Pub. No. 2004/0140104. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0113090 to DeCola et al describes a hoof support stand that includes a flattened tripod base and a vertical support which may be changed from pillar to cradle, with height adjustment.
All of these approaches to supporting a horses hoof for shoeing or other treatment operation suffer the same disadvantage in that all include large or heavy, relatively difficult to move bases or platforms upon which the hoof rest or cradle is mounted. With the known devices, either the stand must be moved into a position relative to a generally unmoving horse or the horse must be moved to the stand if the stand is sufficiently heavy and difficult to move. Either way, horses do not generally like to be moved or have their legs moved laterally, and there remains the problem of providing a useful hoof rest or cradle that can be readily positioned near the horse's leg, while minimizing undesirable lateral movement of the horse's leg or other movement of the horse to get in position for the operation to the hoof, while still providing a convenient rest for the farrier or veterinarian.
Accordingly, there is a need for a different approach to supporting a horse's hoof for a farrier or veterinarian to inspect or work on a horse's hoof. As will be described and explained in detail below, the present inventors have constructed an improved, portable, wearable equine leg rest that supports a horse's lower leg and/or hoof, in a manner comfortable for the horse and comfortable for the wearer, to allow the wearer to conveniently and comfortably attend to the horse's leg and/or hoof with minimal annoyance to the horse.